Look to Windward

Culture #7

Paperback, 403 pages

English language

Published Dec. 14, 2001 by Orbit.

ISBN:
9781841490595

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4 stars (3 reviews)

It was one of the less glorious incidents of a long-ago war.

It led to the destruction of two suns and the billions of lives they supported.

Now, eight hundred years later, the light from the first of those ancient mistakes has reached the Culture Orbital, Masaq.

The light from the second may not.

5 editions

Huge themes, muddled

4 stars

This should clearly be understood as a companion to Consider Phlebas. That book devotes so much time to world-building, it doesn’t fully explore the characters’ motivations. In contrast Look to Windward is all about the characters.

It’s a novel about regret, trauma, and revenge, and it does it well. I didn’t care for the revelations at the end of the book. It’s a crutch that Banks relies on in almost all Culture novels – the Minds knew all and manipulated everyone all along! That’s not quite what was going on here, but it is in part.

Banks’ concern for the impact of war on those who fight it is clear. This is a compassionate book. This coda was hidden and only revealed at the end, which, to me, is a sign of an author who doesn’t fully trust or respect their readers. We need “the prestige”, to borrow that magician’s …